Asia - South China Morning Post

Wang Gungwu is widely regarded as a pre-eminent expert on the ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia and the history of China, but at 95, he writes in his latest memoir that he is no longer able to call himself a historian.

In No Borders: Journeys Across Islands and Continents, launched in Singapore on Thursday, Wang writes that while a historian today has the objective of reconstructing the past as it actually happened, the Australian sinologist is no longer interested in this.

Through his studies...

In Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, Mike Campbell described how he went bankrupt: “Gradually, and then suddenly.” Over the past weeks, there is a feeling that US President Donald Trump and his administration have reached the “suddenly” bit.

First, Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney captivated a World Economic Forum audience when he described the “rupture” in the rules-based order, a “bargain” that “no longer works”: leaving middle countries like Canada with no choice but to dilute their...

Malaysia’s football leadership resigned en masse this week in what it called a governance move to protect the sport, but critics say any “reset” will count only if the association explains how allegedly forged eligibility documents were submitted and who will be held responsible.

The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) late on Thursday said it had formally informed Fifa and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) that all members of its executive committee for the 2025–2029 term had...

South Korea’s Ministry of Employment and Labour has apologised to the family of a Cambodian migrant worker who died after living in a makeshift “greenhouse dormitory” and vowed to reinforce protections for foreign workers, following a Supreme Court ruling that found the government liable.

In a statement issued on Thursday after the decision, the ministry said it respects the ruling of the Supreme Court and promised to help swiftly proceed with compensation procedures for the bereaved family of...

Singapore’s move to bar undesirable visitors from boarding planes to the city state began on Friday, with airlines flying into its airports required to deny access to passengers flagged as risks.

The new directive is aimed at preventing “undesirable or prohibited immigrants, and those who do not meet Singapore’s entry requirements, from boarding flights bound for Singapore”, according to an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) statement released on November 28 last year.

Airlines flying...

A visit by a United States warship to a Cambodian port built with major Chinese backing has underscored Phnom Penh’s superpower balancing act, but observers say American concerns will linger over the facility’s usage being dominated by Beijing.

The USS Cincinnati arrived on Saturday at Ream Naval Base as part of a mission to strengthen cooperation between Cambodian-US forces and departed from the Preah Sihanouk location on Wednesday, local media reported.

The littoral combat ship is the first...

From his newly built three-storey home outside Hanoi, Trinh Tat Thang has watched the surging global gold price with mounting dread.

The Vietnamese have a long tradition of holding their wealth in gold, and a parallel practice of borrowing the asset from relatives to build homes rather than cash from a bank.

But the debt must be repaid in gold.

Family members loaned Thang four glittering one-luong bars – a standard Vietnamese unit equivalent to 1.2 troy ounces (37 grams) – to break ground on his...

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Asia is scaling renewable power, electrification and clean manufacturing faster than any other part of the world. Yet the pace is outstripping the availability of skilled workers, creating a bottleneck that could slow progress towards net zero.

Global renewable energy jobs reached 16.2 million in 2023, an 18 per cent increase year on year, driven largely by growth in solar energy, equipment manufacturing and power...

Subdued Chinese demand was a key contributor to a decline in Australia’s wine exports last year, according to the Australian government agency that promotes the industry.

With consumer sentiment and evolving tastes reshaping the Chinese market, shipments to mainland China fell 17 per cent year on year to A$755 million (US$532.10 million) – the biggest single factor in an 8 per cent fall in Australia’s total wine exports last year – Wine Australia said in a report released on Wednesday.

The weak...

A group of three suspects robbed five people on a street in central Tokyo on Thursday night, fleeing with suitcases that the victims said contained around 420 million yen (US$2.7 million) in cash, according to police.

A few hours later, a man with luggage containing 190 million yen in cash was attacked early on Friday with pepper spray in a parking space at the Japanese capital’s Haneda airport, but nothing was stolen from him, police said.

Investigators are looking into a possible link between...